>> reporter: these families are not exactly sitting around, wringing their hands. they are blogging, posting on facebook, asking anyone who knows of the story to contact lawmakers to keep the u.s. coast guard on the search and to pressure the mexican navy to continue looking for seven friends who are lost at sea. the reason being is that the family believes that in 80-degree waters of the sea of cortez, the fishermen can survive and that there are hundreds of uninhabited islands and sand bars that they could have drifted to. they also cite the fact that many people have been found after shipwrecks as long as seven days after those ships have gone down. right now the family is trying to make sure that the search continues past that 96-hour mark. they are hoping for divers to go down into the wreckage to confirm that those seven missing fishermen are not down below. we have team coverage with nbc and our report from san felipe. first back to jessica and marla.

we are having twroubl that live shot -- trouble with that live shot. at this hour, san francisco senator leland yee is talking about the mexican government and pressuring them to continue looking for the missing survivors. one of the men's wives is with him and we'll have more as part of our continued coverage coming up at 6:00. to catch a thief. san francisco police may have a new key piece of evidence in the search for a man who stole an original picasso from a union square art gallery. the owner of leftie o'doul's restaurant saw a man walking down the street carrying the painting. the man walked into the weinstein gallery yesterday morning and made off with the artwork before he jumped into a camp. the restaurant's owner says he hopes the video will lead to an arrest. >> i think this guy walking into

the gallery like that in the middle of the day and taking a picasso in front of everybody was pretty desperate. >> now investigators today checked out the video. they haven't confirmed the man is their suspect, but they have impounded a taxi and have questioned that driver. a former school teacher will have to pay a large fine for the destruction of some valuable artifacts destroyed in a raging wildfire. a civil jury has ordered margaret pavasey and her relatives to pay a san jose man $750,000. the man owned papers written by albert einstein. they were destroyed during the lick wildlife back in 2007. pavasey pleaded no contest to starting the fire. it burned more than 47,000 acres and destroyed four homes. her attorney says the fine is excessive and is asking for a new trial. a major development with the military's don't ask, don't tell policy. today, san francisco's ninth circuit court of appeals ordered

the u.s. government to immediately stop enforcing that long-standing ban on openly gay members serving in the military. the decision the result of a suit filed by log cabin republicans, a gay rights group. the three judge panel says the policy must be lifted now that the obama administration has concluded that it's unconstitutional to treat gay americans differently under the law. you may remember that back in december the president signed legislation lifting that 1993 ban but said it would take months to dismantle the policy. we want to take you back to the story we told you about. the seven missing boaters from the bay area in mexico. nbc's reporter is live with us from san felipe beach with more on the search. and miguel, we're hearing that the search could be lifted as early as tomorrow. that leaves family here feeling very, very desperate. >> reporter: certainly. we've been in touch with mexican officials all day. for the last several days they say that the search is now in

its fourth day. they've been searching around the clock, at night and in the morning. they say that they have given all they can to this search. it is at this time scheduled to end friday morning at 2:00 a.m. that search has been extensive and rather exhaustive so far. obviously as you can imagine, all those families in the bay area from those seven missing men out at sea certainly want this search to continue through the next several days. but mexican officials telling us as late as just an hour or two ago that they do plan to halt this search at 2:00 a.m. friday. they say they have simply searched the sea of cortez as best they can, and they will continue that search for two more days and then pull up to an end on friday. >> miguel, do they -- are the authorities there saying that they have any idea where these seven missing boaters could be? if they've searched the water and they haven't found them, what are some of the options as to where they might be? >> reporter: authorities say they have a pretty good idea of where that sunken ship is.

we just got done speaking to survivors a short time ago, as a matter of fact. they say they're working closely with mexican officials to try to pinpoint exactly where the erik, the sunken ship, may be. they're using that as a jumping off point. as you know, so many of the survivors tharpe pulled out of the water -- that were pulled out of the water drifted for miles. some reached land. they're hopeful and optimistic, say the survivors, that the missing americans will, too, find their way to those deserted or uninhabited islands, hoping they can be rescued. if not on the islands, by fishing vessels that go and down the channels in the area. optimism from the survivors, although they, too, understand that time could be running out. >> all right. reporting live from san felipe beach in mexico, thank you. two bay area-based tech giants are making national news today. twitter launched an historic town hall, and facebook introduced a new video calling feature in a partnership with skype. our business and tech reporter, scott budman, is here now.

let's talk some social networking. >> reporter: absolutely. it's the way we communicate these days, no matter where we live or how old we are. the big kahuna in social networking, palo alto's facebook which, as of today, will let you reach out and touch your friends. >> hey, donna, how's it going? >> reporter: 750 million friends and now they can all see each other. ♪ >> reporter: facebook launching video chat. ceo mark zuckerberg says it will please everyone from your co-worker to his own neighbor. >> i was walking around the block this morning, and i have this neighbor who's -- 70 or 80 years old. and he always, you know, doing work in his yard in the morning. and i walked by this morning like -- i heard you guys are launching something on the radio. yeah. it's going to be a good day. he says, i hope it's video chat. really want to chat with my grandson. all right, tune in. >> reporter: and yes, zuckerberg's neighbor can no video chat with his grandson

over facebook. a partnership between the palo alto social networking company and video chat pioneer skype. also new from facebook, what it calls group chat. a way for you to get on line with many of your friends at the same time. >> you know, the average group size is seven people which is a good, intimate group, you know, that most common names of the groups are friends and family, which is what we wanted. one of the things people love to do is sclat with friends and -- chat with friends and family and organize events. >> reporter: both companies admits this is not new technology, but in the social networking world, we don't just want to have friends, we want to see them, too. at least some people do. i realize not everybody wants to see their friends on facebook, jessica. both video chat and group chat live on facebook right now. you can't video chat as a group yet. that is, by the way, a feature on google's new social network. jessica, expect the two to keep competing through the summer whether or not you want to use these features. >> you have to try to look good all the time. >> reporter: it's tough.

all right. hashtag history. president obama kicked off the first-ever presidential twitter townhall with a tweet, of course, from dog bo. mr. his laptop -- from his laptop, he asked americans about what costs they would cut and what investments they would keep in order to reduce the nation's deficit. twitter selected the questions from thousands submitted -- excuse me. marla, could you continue? >> absolutely. while questions had to meet the 140-character limit, the president had no such restrictions for his responses. the nation's airlines are on alert for human bomb terrorists. a report in today's "lei times" -- "los angeles times" says they may be trying to surgically implant bombs in their bodies to blow up plans. there are no specific plots, but they warn terrorists are wondering how such devices could be implanted in passengers flying into the united states. the alert may mean you have to plan for added delays at u.s. airports when the travel.

the tsa says the additional screening may be necessary because of the threat. it would include more pat-downs and questioning of passengers. a bill that would allow the state insurance commissioner to reject what he sees as excessive health insurance rate hikes is making its way through the legislature. opponents of bill a.b. 52 claim the bill would only add bureaucracy, cost the state money, and limit access to care. some claim the state insurance commissioner should be allowed final say in health insurance fee hikes. the commissioner already has the authority to block excessive auto insurance rate hikes. >> we've had 10, 20, 30, 40, sometimes as high as 90% rate hikes year after year in california. helps explain why we have close to eight million californians and so many small businesses unable to afford health insurance. this legislation would give me the authority to do something about that. >> now the california medical association claims putting a cap on health insurance premiums will lead to fewer doctor,

overcrowded emergency rooms, and will hamper general health access to care. make the police force more efficient. oakland's police chief says that's his goal as budget cuts lead to a shrinking staff in the bay area's third-largest city. chief anthony bad says he must reshuffle the department because it only has 638 officers. that's down about 200 men and women from just three years ago. the key feature of the reorganization is splitting up the field operations unit into two with each being led by a deputy police chief. officers in the criminal and investigative units will focus on violent crime such as homicides, robberies, and assaults. chief bat says the road ahead will not be easy. >> we have found that we have an organization that is specialized. we have multiple different units doing the same things. what we're trying to do through the reorganization is trying to become an organization that is flatter, has more general lists as compared to specialists doing

the function and doing the job. >> the chief also says the changes will mean that property crimes including thefts and burglaries will be given a lower priority, and in some cases, won'ting investigated at all. well, boycotting casey anthony. you'll hear about the massive social media push against the florida mom. and tonight an alternate juror in the trial gives new insight into the verdicts. president obama takes a controversial change of course for military families. the decision that was so hard for him to make. and the offer that could make it worth maria shriver's time to air her family's dirty laundry. >> reporter: and good afternoon, i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri live at stanford university where a small ball is responsible for a chinese delegation arriving tonight. stg ngrecain c up aft te weather forest comin up aft this. hi

today could be casey anthony's last full day in jail after she was acquitted on charges she killed her own daughter caylee. anthony spent almost three years behind bars. tomorrow the judge will sentence her to time served on four counts of lying to police. each count carries a maximum sentence of one year. yesterday in florida, jurors took less than 11 hours to acquit anthony on the most serious charges related to her 2-year-old daughter's death including first-degree murder. so far the only juror to speak out is one of the alternates. >> the prosecution didn't present the evidence that would

have sustained either a murder charge or a manslaughter charge. >> others who watched and even testified had been very vocal against the verdict, including anthony's former fiance. he said the verdict left him shocked and angry. he believes casey will get to continue her partying lifestyle. a florida father is so angry about the verdict he started a boycott casey anthony facebook page. the group encourage people to boycott books, movies, or any other goods from which anthony could profit. since it went on line yesterday afternoon, the number of likes have exploded. this afternoon there were more than 7,000 members. president obama is reversing the long-standing policy of not sending condolence letters to families of troops who commit suicide while in combat. in a written statement, he said the decision was made after review of the previous policy, and that it wasn't taken lightly. service member suicides have increased with the last two

wars. mar anne shriver is reportedly -- maria shriver is reportedly being offered a lucrative book deal that could fetch a record advance of up to $15 million if she accepts. shriver has so far not expressed any interest in writing a book. the book would be about her life growing up as a member of the kennedys and also about being forced to deal with the cheating celebrity husband. shriver, as you'll recall, filed for divorce from former governor schwarzenegger last week. she's already penned six best sellers prior to this one. joy in south korea as a town won the bid for the 2018 winter olympics. it beat out germany and france to host the games. the city narrowly lost bids for the 2010 and 2014 games. but this time it took just one round of voting for the city to secure the 2018 olympics. the town of 47,000 lies near south korea's east coast. it will be the first time the games have been held in asia since the 1998 nagano games in

japan. all right. speaking of games. our own jeff ranieri is live at stanford trying his hand at ping pong. it's part of the 40th anniversary of the celebration of ping pong diplomacy. how are you doing, jeff? >> let's see the paddle. >> reporter: we're going to hold off on the ping pong for a little bit. i don't wanted to give too much away about how good my game s. that's right. tonight is the 40th anniversary of ping pong diplomacy. it's really something that seems like an odd combo. ping pong and politics. when you think about, it the beijing paperwork in 2008, this is a paper from when i covered the beijing olympics, actually has u.s. athletes on the front page of the beijing paper. this would not have been possible -- u.s. athletes in china -- some say if it wasn't for actually the game of ping pong. and actually joining us tonight we have with us ann cribbs. you are with the basoc -- >> bay area sports organizing committee. >> that's right. really, the game of ping pong is

responsible for -- >> absolutely. 40 years ago -- >> so many things? >> two ping pong players. one chinese and one american got stuck on a bus. and they said why don't we visit each other, one said he would call the president and the other called mao tsung -- >> unbelievable. why is it important to play ping pong, meet with the chinese and talk diplomacy? >> because sport may be the last opportunity we all have to have a conversation between nations. everybody loves sports, it's what everybody can wildfire and talk about. and we're just excited to celebrate the ping pong diplomacy. we can't forget about it. it's important to honor that past. >> definitely. 40 years since the stores opened because of the simple game of ping pong. unbelievable. >> that's right. >> reporter: real quick, people at home are wondering since you're with the organization that helps to get the olympics in the bay area, is there any chance of that happening at least in the next sdmaek>> the

thing about olympians is they're darn persistent and determined. we are not going to give up. we love the olympics in the bay area. and we're going to host a game someday. >> reporter: fantastic. ive love the enthusiasm and persistence. thank you very much for coming out. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: we are going to hit the ping pong table in a moment. we want to look at the forecast that's been bouncing around the past couple of days. what you'll find in the weather headlines is you will find patchy fog mainly building at the coastline. and temperatures will be in the 50s. now as we head throughout tomorrow, we are going to see it stay warm. plenty of 80s coming on back. not nearly as hot as it was earlier this week. we'll look at the cool weather in the northwest, dropping down. not going to get any rainfall from this, but it will help to build up the fog pattern across the bay area. for tomorrow inland, we're talking about 80s. then as we head throughout friday's forecast, we are going to see the numbers dropping even more. for tonight, mid to upper 50s here for our morning forecast. throughout tomorrow, it's going to be warm out there.

but once again not nearly as hot as it has been the past couple of days. mid to upper 1998 in the south bay. here in stanford university, for all of you collegiat out there, we are looking at temperatures also in the low 80s. yes, 386 days until the olympics. summer olympics right here on nbc in london where you can catch ping pong and everything olympic sports related. coming up the next seven days, mid to upper 80s. we're putting a spin on things as we head throughout the weekend with that fog pattern coming on back. back out here live. jessica and company -- >> marla. >> marla and i are going to take you on in a game. yes. let's see it. >> reporter: let's hit it. my man over here -- >> try to keep it on the table. >> reporter: oh, jeff, come on! that's bad. >> you got another ball? >> you're better at delivering the weather.

>> calle >> reporter: what do you think? >> too much muscle. >> you were better when you rode the mechanical bull. >> reporter: see you later. >> thanks. coming up, a medical procedure you or your relatives went through may not have been necessary. the results of a study on a common operation. d > and astdumstor duststorm anind fo. about how big it was. fo

top willinging -- topping our healthwatch, new findings that moderate cuts in salt intake don't actually lower the risk of heart disease and death. the information comes from a review of stoifds on salt that included more than 6,000 adults. doesn't mean you can go crazy with the salt shaker. researcher showed going easy on salt benefits a person's blood pressure. heart stents may be unnecessary for some patients. that's the result of a new study which looked at overuse of the procedure which props open

blocked arteries in heart attack patients. researchers found the procedure of stent procedures, some 70%, were medically necessary. about 12% of cases weren't. those patients only had mild heart symptoms. phoenix is back to normal today after historic dust storm swept through the city knocking out power and delaying flights. now the cleanup begins. check out this incredible time-lapse video of the dust storm known as haboob. that's when thunderstorms produce down drafts that kick up dry, loose sand creating a wall of dust. winds ripped up trees, tossed around lawn furniture, and caused dangerous driving conditions. it looks like a scene out of a movie. meteorologists estimate the storm is more than a mile high and more than 100 miles wide. >> it looks like something out of a steven spielberg movie, doesn't it? >> it does. coming up, it may sound odd, but one bay area museum wants you to put penguins in your pocket. [ male announcer ] can't get to sleep? can't stay asleep? clinically proven unisom helps you fall asleep faster and stay asleep so you wake rested.

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ever since the movie "march of the penguins" came out, those adorable little birds have become all the rage. >> they are cute. now the california academy of sciences in san francisco has introduced a new app that will offer you 24/7 live access to its popular colony of african penguins. the app is called pocket penguins and is available free to apple iphone and android users. if you log on to the app and download it, you'll be able to toggle through three views. with one view you goat watch them swim under water. the museum advise says the best time to watch is 10:30 in the morning and 3:00 in the afternoon. of course, that is when they chow down. >> apparently it's interesting to watch a penguin eat.

>> lots of fish. thanks for being with us tonight. nightly news is next. >> see you at 6:00.